Committee assignments

U.S. House

2011-2014

Issues

Legislative actions

113th Congress

The second session of the 113th Congress enacted into law 114 out of the 3,036 introduced bills (3.8 percent). Comparatively, the 112th Congress had 4.2 percent of introduced bills enacted into law in the second session.[2] For more information pertaining to Boehner's voting record in the 113th Congress, please see the below sections.[3]

National security

American response in Syria

Boehner supports PresidentBarack Obama's proposed military strikes against Syria. He stated, "The use of these weapons has to be responded to and only the United States has the capability and the capacity to stop Assad and to warn others around the world that this type of behavior is not to be tolerated."[4]

Response to Putin's op-ed

In September 2013, Russia's President Vladimir Putin wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times arguing that the Syria government was not responsible for the chemical weapons. In response, Boehner stated that he was "insulted" by Putin's editorial, further elaborating:

"The president does foreign policy and I’ve always believed while we have opinions, I probably already said more than I should have, but you got the truth."[5]

Amendment to defund NSA surveillance programs

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on July 24, 2013, to narrowly defeated an amendment brought by Justin Amash meant to halt the National Security Agency's bulk collection of surveillance data.[6] The amendment would have stripped funding for an NSA program that collects the telephone records of people in the United States, but not the content of calls.[7]

Among the Republicans opposing the measure was Michele Bachmann. Bachmann defended the NSA's data collection programs, arguing that "here’s no Fourth Amendment expectation of privacy or right to the business-record exception" concerning the collection of phone metadata.[9] She continued by saying, “If we take this program and remove from the United States the distinct advantage that we have versus any other country, it will be those who are seeking to achieve the goals of Islamic jihad who will benefit by putting the United States at risk, and it will be the United States which will be at risk. I believe that we need to win the War on Terror. We need to defeat the goals and aims of Islamic jihad, and for that reason I will be voting no on the Amash amendment.”[9]Bachmann was joined by, among others, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor in opposing the amendment.[9]

The House on July 24, 2013, overwhelmingly passed a separate NSA amendment, put forward by Rep.Mike Pompeo, that was intended as a middle ground but was blasted by civil liberties advocates as achieving nothing.[7] The measure would ensure that the NSA is barred from acquiring or storing the content of emails and phone calls of people in the United States, but it would allow the NSA to continue storing phone metadata.[7]

Economy

Government shutdown

Boehner released a statement on September 29, 2013 blasting Senate Democratic leaders over the looming shutdown. He said, "If the Senate stalls until Monday afternoon instead of working today, it would be an act of breathtaking arrogance by the Senate Democratic leadership. They will be deliberately bringing the nation to the brink of a government shutdown for the sake of raising taxes on seniors’ pacemakers and children’s hearing aids and plowing ahead with the train wreck that is the president’s health care law. The American people will not stand for it."[11] While Boehner attempts to shift blame for a potential shutdown on Senate Democrats, a new poll says that 46% of Americans would blame congressional Republicans.[12]

Travel

In October 2013, a rule against members of Congress traveling on expensive military aircraft was waived for a delegation of thirty House members, including Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, to attend the funeral of longtime Florida congressman Bill Young.[14] The flight time cost was estimated at $10,000 per hour. A spokesman for Boehner told the Washington Post, "Given Rep. Young’s long and distinguished service to his congressional district, and especially to the men and women of our Armed Forces, the rule against military aircraft is waived for this funeral."[14] The rule also was waived for two other funerals earlier this year.

Previous congressional sessions

Fiscal Cliff

Boehner voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. He was 1 of 85 Republicans that voted in favor of the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257 - 167 vote on January 1, 2013.[15]

Leadership style

Boehner has a "passive-aggressive" leadership style. He uses, "a passive-aggressive approach to agenda management—wait to bring up bills that will not pass muster with the extremist hard-liners until it becomes clear that they all will suffer from inaction; this allows his members to vote against the bills while the Democrats bail them out." He also works to "mollify his extremist hard-liners. That is, get out in front of them and promote or pursue extremist policies and rhetoric to show he is one of them."[16]

Before lunch, Boehner appeared at a private event for contributors who have made the maximum $2,600 contribution to Simpson for the 2014 primary election, said Brody Aston, Simpson’s campaign manager.[18]

Elections

2014

Boehner is set to run for re-election to the U.S. House in 2014. If he runs, he will seek the Republican nomination in the primary election on May 6, 2014. The general election took place November 4, 2014.

Full history

To view the full congressional electoral history for John Boehner, click [show] to expand the section.

2010

On November 2, 2010, John Boehner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Justin Coussoule (D), David Harlow (L) and James Condit (Constitution) in the general election.[21]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 2010

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John A. Boehner

65.6%

142,731

Democratic

Justin A. Coussoule

30.3%

65,883

Libertarian

David A. Harlow

2.4%

5,121

Constitution

James J. Condit, Jr

1.7%

3,701

Total Votes

217,436

2008

On November 4, 2008, John Boehner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Nicholas Von Stein (D) in the general election.[22]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 2008

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John Boehnerincumbent

67.9%

202,063

Democratic

Nicholas Von Stein

32.1%

95,510

Total Votes

297,573

2006

On November 7, 2006, John Boehner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Mort Meier (D) in the general election.[23]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 2006

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John Boehnerincumbent

63.8%

136,863

Democratic

Mort Meier

36.2%

77,640

Total Votes

214,503

2004

On November 2, 2004, John Boehner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Jeff Hardenbrook (D) in the general election.[24]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 2004

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John Boehnerincumbent

69%

201,675

Democratic

Jeff Hardenbrook

31%

90,574

Total Votes

292,249

2002

On November 5, 2002, John Boehner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Jeff Hardenbrook (D) in the general election.[25]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 2002

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John Boehnerincumbent

70.8%

119,947

Democratic

Jeff Hardenbrook

29.2%

49,444

Total Votes

169,391

2000

On November 7, 2000, John Boehner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated John Parks (D) and David Shock (L) in the general election.[26]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 2000

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John Boehnerincumbent

71%

179,756

Democratic

John Parks

26.2%

66,293

Libertarian

David Shock

2.9%

7,254

Total Votes

253,303

1998

On November 3, 1998, John Boehner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated John Griffin (D) in the general election.[27]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 1998

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John Boehnerincumbent

70.7%

127,979

Democratic

John Griffin

29.3%

52,912

Total Votes

180,891

1996

On November 5, 1996, John Boehner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Jeffrey Kitchen (D) and William Baker (Natural Law) in the general election.[28]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 1996

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John Boehnerincumbent

72.9%

165,815

Democratic

Jeffrey Kitchen

27.1%

61,515

Natural Law

William Baker

0%

0

Total Votes

227,330

1994

On November 8, 1994, John Boehner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated write-in candidates in the general election.[29]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 1994

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John Boehnerincumbent

99.9%

148,338

N/A

Write-in

0.1%

87

Total Votes

148,425

1992

On November 3, 1992, John Boehner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Fred Sennet (D) in the general election.[30]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 1992

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John Boehnerincumbent

26%

62,033

Democratic

Fred Sennet

74%

176,362

Total Votes

238,395

1990

On November 6, 1990, John Boehner won election to the United States House. He defeated Gregory Jolivette (D) in the general election.[31]

U.S. House, Ohio District 8 General Election, 1990

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

John Boehner

61.1%

99,955

Democratic

Gregory Jolivette

38.9%

63,584

Total Votes

163,539

Campaign donors

Comprehensive donor information for Boehner is available dating back to 2000. Based on available campaign finance records, Boehner raised a total of $43,833,755 during that time period. This information was last updated on March 25, 2013.[32]

John Boehner's Campaign Contribution History

Year

Office

Result

Contributions

2012

U.S. House of Representatives (Ohio District 8)

$22,024,288

2010

U.S. House of Representatives (Ohio District 8)

$9,796,947

2008

U.S. House of Representatives (Ohio District 8)

$5,161,985

2006

U.S. House of Representatives (Ohio District 8)

$3,200,084

2004

U.S. House of Representatives (Ohio District 8)

$1,544,255

2002

U.S. House of Representatives (Ohio District 8)

$1,190,181

2000

U.S. House of Representatives (Ohio District 8)

$916,015

Grand Total Raised

$43,833,755

2014

In advance of the 2014 midterm elections, Boehner had raised more than $30 million by July 2013. Of that, he gave more than $5 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee. As of July, he had held over 100 fundraising events.[33]

Lifetime voting record

According to the website GovTrack, Boehner missed 512 of 12,774 roll call votes from Jan 1991 to Mar 2013, which is 4.0% of votes during that period. This is worse than the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving.[43]

113th Congress Speaker of the House Election

During the swearing in ceremony and election for Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R) saw nine Republican members of congress either vote for someone else or abstain and vote present. This is a change from the Speaker election in 2010, where the entire Republican caucus voted for him, then 241 members. Boehner won re-election to the speakership with 220 votes. He needed a majority of members voting, which would be 214 of the 426 who voted. Former Speaker and California representative Nancy Pelosi (D) in turn, received 192 votes.[44]

Congressional staff salaries

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Boehner paid his congressional staff a total of $951,055 in 2011. Overall, Ohio ranked 30th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[46]

Net worth

2011

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Boehner's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between $1,787,113 to $5,455,000. That averages to $3,621,056, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican House members in 2011 of $7,859,232. His average net worth decreased by 11.51% from 2010.[47]

2010

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Boehner's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $2,099,107 to $6,085,000. This averages out to $4,092,053.50 which was lower than the average net worth of Republicans in 2010 of $7,561,133.[48]